Knife sharpener provided with a removable abrasive sheath



Sept. 25, 1956 KNIFE SHARPENER PRO P. M. BURNS 2,763,968 VIDEID WITH A REMOVABLE ABRASIVE SHEATH Filed Nov. 25, 1954 r mvsmon [k PETER M. BURNS a {L m ATTORNE United States Patent KNIFE SHARPENER PROVIDED WITH A REMOV- ABLE ABRASIV E SHEATH Peter M. Burns, San Francisco, Calif. Application November 23, 1954, Serial No. 470,611 1 Claim. (Cl. 51-186) The present invention relates to improvements in a knife sharpener provided with a removable abrasive sheath. It consists of the combinations, constructions and arrangement of parts, as hereinafter described and claimed.

An object of my invention is to provide a knife sharpener having a supporting blade adapted to have an abrasive sheath telescoped thereover, thus allowing the sheath to be renewed from time to time. Moreover, the sheath may be readily replaced with another sheath having coarser or finer abrasive material thereon, thereby providing a sharpener having the proper honing characteristics required for sharpening a particular knife.

Another object is to provide an abrasive sheath of the character described which is reinforced by a liner so as to create and maintain the proper shape for the sheath. Also, the sheath is made with a biconvex or flattened oval cross-section to thereby provide larger sharpening areas than would be afforded by a cylindrical hone.

A still further object resides in the provision of a knife sharpener with a removable abrasive sheath which is simple in construction, durable and efficient for the purpose intended, and which may be manufactured at a relatively low cost.

Other objects and advantages will appear as the specification proceeds, and the novel features will be set forth in the claim hereunto annexed.

Drawing For a better understanding of my invention, reference should be had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this application, in which:

Figure l is a plan view of my improved knife sharpener, portions of the sheath being broken away to disclose the interior construction thereof;

Figure 2 is a fragmentary view of the handle and supporting blade;

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the sheath;

Figure 4 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken along the plane IV-IV of Figure l; and

Figure 5 is a transverse sectional view taken through the sheath prior to the latter being folded into its final tubular shape.

While I have shown only the preferred form of my invention it should be understood that various changes, or modifications may be made within the scope of the annexed claims without departing from the spirit thereof.

Detailed description Referring to the drawing in detail, I have shown a handle indicated generally at A, and having a supporting blade B secured thereto, so as to project therefrom. This blade is preferably made with a biconvex or flattened oval cross-section, as shown in Figure 4 of the drawing. Of course, the handle and its blade may be made of any suitable material, such as wood, plastic, fibre or metal. The blade thus provided is adapted to have a flexible abrasive sheath C removably telescoped thereover to thus provide a bone for sharpening a knife.

It will be noted that the sheath C includes an abrasive sleeve D which is reinforced by a liner E. The sleeve has its exterior surface covered with an suitable abrasive material 10, such as powdered garnet, and it may be fabricat d from a strip of emery cloth or paper. in any event, this abrasive material may be coarse or fine, depending upon the type of hone desired. With respect to the liner, it may be fashioned from a strip of heavy kraft paper or tape. As shown, the sleeve and its liner are secured into a unitary structure by a layer of adhesive F being interposed therebetween.

Various methods of fabricating the sheath may be utilized. In Figure 5, the liner strip E has been illustrated as being arranged parallel with the sleeve strip D, with the former overlying the latter, and the strips being offset laterally with respect to one another. At this time, the adhesive portion 11 serves to bond the two strips together. As the next step, the liner strip is folded back upon itself, as suggested by the arrow 12 until the lateral edges 13 thereof are brought into registration with each other, thus providing a seam 14 and a fold 15 extending lengthwise of the liner (see Figures 3 and As the next step, the laterally projecting portion 16 of the abrasive strip D is folded back over the liner as suggested by the arrow 12a, until its lateral edges 17 register with each other. At this time, the: abrasive strip encloses the liner and will have a fold 18 at one side and a seam 19 at its opposite side, and the adhesive P will provide a bond between the abrasive sleeve D and its liner E. Particular attention is called to the fact that the seams i4 and 19 are disposed at opposing sides of the completed sheath.

The sheath thus provided has a bore 2t! extending longitudinally thereof from end to end, whereby the blade B may be readily telescoped thereinto. This blade may be fashioned with a slight taper, if desired, so that it will be snugly received in the bore 20. However, the free end of the blade may be bevelled at 2:1 to facilitate insertion of the blade into the bore 29, and thus it is not necessary to provide any further taper on the blade.

The knife sharpener can be used in the ordinary man ner; and when the abrasive material 10 becomes less effective, a new sheath may be substituted. It is apparent that sheaths having different degrees of coarseness may be provided. Moreover, the double-convex shape imparted to the sleeve, when the flexible sheath is snugly telescoped over the blade, presents relatively large sharpening areas for honing purposes. The heavy kraft paper liner E is adhered to the abrasive sleeve D in such a manner as to create the correct form for the sheath and also to reinforce the abrasive sleeve. Obviously, the abrasive sheath may be made in any desired size.

I claim:

A knife sharpener provided with a removable abrasive sheath comprising: a sheath-supporting blade having a bi-convex cross-section, and defining opposite lateral sides extending lengthwise of the blade; and an abrasive sheath removably disposed on the blade; the sheath including an elongated outer sleeve having abrasive material on the exterior surface thereof; the sheath further including a reinforcing liner bonded by adhesive to the inner surface of the sleeve; both the sleeve and liner having substantially bi-convex cross-sections, and each defining 0pposite lateral sides extending lengthwise of the sheath and registering with the lateral sides of the blade; the sleeve and liner each consisting of a strip of material defining a longitudinally-extending fold at one lateral side thereof, and further providing registering and abutting strip edges at the opposite lateral side; the sleeve entirely 3 encompassing the liner and having its fold disposed on the opposite lateral side of the sheath from that of the fold of the liner; the abutting edges of the sleeve registering with and being sealed down by the adhesive to the fold of the liner; the abutting edges of the liner being concealed beneath the fold of the sleeve; the sheath being flexible and having uniform thickness throughout; the liner defining a bore receiving the blade; the abutting edges of the sleeve being disposed substantially 180 from the abutting edges of the liner, thereby providing lines of weaknesses defined'by each pair of said abutting edges, which lines of Weaknesses extend lengthwise of the sheath in registration'with said lateral sides of the blade, thereby facilitating the smooth and even collapsing or opening up of the sheath to conform with and embrace the blade when the latter is inserted into or withdrawn from said bore; the length of the sheath being at least several times greater than its width, thereby providing honing areas on the exterior of the sheath of substantial lengths.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Almond Dec. 11, 1883 Brown Aug. 19, 1902 Reisch et a1. Jan. 21, 1919 Ellis Apr. 28, 1936 Newcomb et a1. Feb. 23, 1937 Neuschaefer Dec. 17, 1940 Wachter May 2, 1944 Scattone Nov. 11, 1947 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Nov. 24, 1937 

